Sheikh Mohammed believed he'd bought the Cheveley Park Stakes winner when he secured Cape Verdi from Robert Sangster. But he discovered the winner was already among his powerful team when Embassy and Kieren Fallon claimed the Group One fillies' prize at Newmarket yesterday.

Embassy left Cape Verdi trailing five lengths back in fourth as she clinched a second victory in the race for trainer David Loder and galloped to the head of the 1,000 Guineas market.

She was installed 3 to 1 favourite for the fillies classic by the Tote - she is 4 to 1 with William Hill, 5 to 1 with Ladbrokes and 6 to 1 with Coral - after her two and a half lengths success.

Narrowly beaten by Cape Verdi at York, Embassy emphatically turned the tables as she burst to the front just over a furlong out under Fallon.

She quickly sprinted clear of Crazee Mental who finished a length and a quarter clear of Royal Shyness. Shmoose beat only one having made the early running.

Loder captured this Group One prize two years ago with Blue Duster, the winner's dam triumphed in 1988 and Embassy is rated in the same league.

"I rate her as highly as Blue Duster and this filly has not suffered the muscle problems we had with Blue Duster," said Loder.

"She has tremendous acceleration that can kill off the opposition but I have reservations about her getting a mile, there is a lot of speed in her pedigree.

"I expect we will start her off in the Nell Gwynn and see if she gets seven furlongs."

Cape Verdi, pushed out to 10 to 1 for the 1,000 Guineas, proved a major disappointment on her last start for Peter Chapple-Hyam before she joins Godolphin.

One of four juveniles sold by Robert Sangster to Sheikh Mohammed, she was staying on at the finish and is considered a better prospect for next year.

Crazee Mental finished second for the third time running but would have finished closer had she not missed a crucial piece of work, according the trainer Derek Haydn-Jones.

"She missed one serious gallop and Darryll Holland said she was ring-rusty over the first three furlongs and then all of a sudden changed three gears. She'll get a mile next year standing on her head," he said.

Shmoose was removed from ante-post lists but she ran as her connections had expected after suffering training problems since her Newbury debut.

Embassy completed a double for Loder who had begun the day with a victory from Golden Fortune in the Jersey Lily Fillies Nursery.

Trainer Roger Charlton scooped a fabulous windfall for his owners after sending out Tamarisk and Sapphire Ring to finish first and second in the Tattersalls Houghton Sales Stakes.

As well as more than £20,000 in prize-money the two horses netted a further £180,000 in bonuses.

Tamarisk, the 5 to 4 favourite, stretched his unbeaten record to three with a clear-cut defeat of his 13 rivals. He pulled away in great style in the final furlong to beat his stablemate by three and a half lengths.

The victory prompted all the leading bookmakers to slash the colt's price to 16 to 1 for the 2,000 Guineas.

"He quickened really well and I am sure he will stay a mile," said Charlton. "We'll have to aim at the Guineas now and we can start dreaming."

Before that there's every chance that Tamarisk, who has already justified his 78,000 guineas price tag, will be supplemented at a cost of 15,000 guineas, for the Dewhurst Stakes.

"We've always had the aim to run the horse on the sales race since we bought him but we'd have to seriously consider supplementing for the Dewhurst now - we have nothing to lose," said Charlton.

Solo Mio carrying the colours of Bosra Sham's owner Wafic Said, found his feet after some below par performances to defeat Kilma in the NGK Spark Plugs Handicap.

Fallon, who partnered Embassy, completed a double on Henry Cecil's Success And Glory in the last.

Racegoers who attend the final day of the Irish day of the Irish Flat season at Leopardstown on Sunday, November 9th, will have the opportunity to win a racehorse for a year.

The meeting is being sponsored by O'Callaghan Hotels and the horse in question is Alexander Banquet, a three-parts brother to Wither Or Which, winner of the

1996 Cheltenham Bumber, and is in the care of the same trainer, Willie Mullins. Trainer and jockey fees, maintenance and Turf Club costs for the 1997/98 season are all parts of the prize, and the winner of the draw, which is also open to clients of the O'Callaghan Hotel restaurants, keep any prizemoney won over the course of the season.

Ian Ferguson, who trains at Ballymena in Co Antrim, made a victorious first visit to Sedgefield yesterday when Pennybridge gained a pillar-to-post success in the Lazenby And Wilson Handicap Chase. Jumping like a stag in the hands of Tony McCoy, the eight-year-old, winner of six races in this country, always held the whip hand over the odds-on Lochnagrain and stormed home to win by three lengths from the favourite.